Althouse: "Take off your bedroom slippers... stop complaining..."

September 25, 2011

"Take off your bedroom slippers... stop complaining..."

Obama at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Award Dinner.

He's trying to be inspiring but... look at the expression on his face in the last minute of that clip. He is angry.

76 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Disobedience coming from other white liberals is bitter enough, but disobedience from the slaves on the plantation must be dealt with harshly.

And contrast that with my friend Herman Cain's life lived outside the slave plantation.

He is a good leader and has therefore been honored in Florida's straw poll without skin color issues being necessary.; 9/25/11, 7:42 AM
Shanna said...: I LOATHE Obama's fake southern accent. Stop doing that! You are from Hawaii and Chicago, brother. Not Mississippi.; 9/25/11, 7:49 AM
Sal said...: Rhetoric about "marching" and racial paranoia about "gigantic mountains of opposition" is exactly why blacks continue to be relatively poor in this country.

Somehow, according to Obama, blacks are going to someday reach the "promised land." How in hell is that ever going to happen?; 9/25/11, 7:50 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: Like Madame Professor, I find myself transfixed by the "bedroom slippers" bit.

God. Name me one Republican who wouldn't be lynched now for saying that.

And yet...I found myself half believing he was going to launch into The Jefferson's theme song...

"Come with me, CBC (and really, what's with calling it "CBC" instead of "my friends" or something?) Come with me, CBC. We'll march forward toward that deeeeluxe apartment--yes suh! In the sky sky sky! Follow me! We'll be movin' on up! Oh brothers, oh sisters, we'll fin'ly get our piece of THE PIE".

Man.

WV: blygo
blago went blithely.; 9/25/11, 7:53 AM
FleetUSA said...: "Press on" with the teleprompter. He sounds like one frustrated preacher who knows that his prayer book won't create more jobs for the "bro's", but still wants to keep his job.; 9/25/11, 7:56 AM
Paul said...: Obama is a failed racist president. Nothing more or less.

He can't get the nation, which is comprised of many races, to back him up so he calls on one minority to protest against everyone else.

Racist he is and always was. His mask just fell off.; 9/25/11, 8:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Unemployment rate among black men is 16.7 percent.

Stop complaining!; 9/25/11, 8:16 AM
ErnieG said...: I saw that clip at Breitbart's, and disagree with Breitbart's conclusion that Obama had "lost it". Obama was trying to deliver what they used to call a stemwinder, with the cadence of a revival preacher. All he needed was an altar call.; 9/25/11, 8:21 AM
alan markus said...: "Pre-e-e-ess O-O-on"!!; 9/25/11, 8:21 AM
mesquito said...: Bedrooom slippers?; 9/25/11, 8:27 AM
Anonymous said...: I sense that the vast majority of Americans are ready and willing to leave racism in the past and move beyond.

Yet this will not happen until Congress and the President are willing to do so.; 9/25/11, 8:36 AM
MathMom said...: All the "press on" talk - couldn't get this old commercial out of my mind - Lee Press-on Nails! Press On!; 9/25/11, 8:38 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Dr. King... blah, blah, blah!; 9/25/11, 8:41 AM
MathMom said...: Shanna -

He was only using half of his fake southern accent today. When he really gets going, he does that out-of-breath black preacher cadence with it, and I reach for the Dramamine. Why don't the black people in his audiences realize that the only real thing about this man is that he's a phony?; 9/25/11, 8:42 AM
Anonymous said...: What do you think he means when he talks about the "promised land" - free candy and cupcakes for everyone?; 9/25/11, 8:44 AM
Curious George said...: Dude is going to spend the rest of his life telling everyone that it was everyone's fault but his own. Oh, sure, the lefty idiots like Sara Goldrick-Rab will always eat it up. But the rest will just wish he would go away.

And I don't see anger as much as fear in Barry's eyes. He is a brittle man, a narcissist who knows the game is over. That fear can only be dealt with with anger.; 9/25/11, 8:49 AM
Beta Rube said...: His odd Southern accent/cadence vibe isn't as off-putting as Hillary's.

That is the best I can say about our angry adolescent in chief.; 9/25/11, 8:56 AM
Mogget said...: The thing that strikes me is the gulf between his self-understanding of himself as a leader and the reality that he an ill-tempered nag.; 9/25/11, 8:57 AM
pm317 said...: wow, one angry Black man, not angry at the rest of the world which is usually the case but angry at the other Black people..

Very unpresidential to see him bang the side of the lectern and walk off glowering at the audience.

It must be some intimidation technique to silence them, no? Will the Black people accept this affront silently?; 9/25/11, 9:03 AM
pm317 said...: What is the reference to 'bedroom slippers?' Is there a historical significance?; 9/25/11, 9:09 AM
James said...: let's see...last week the Congressional Black Caucus said that if Obama weren't black they would be marching on the White House. So in a ju jitsu move, Obama is now urging blacks to march for jobs; ignoring that its his policies that have exacerbated the situation.

Having grown up listening to persuasive speakers like LFS Burnham and Walter Rodney, Obama has never moved me. He's a piker compared to the men I mentioned and its satisfying to see some black people now understand what I warned them about four years ago.; 9/25/11, 9:11 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: ernie g:

where at breitbart was that clip with comment from Andrew that Barry had "lost it"?

since the clip The Professor posted was from Breitbart and all...; 9/25/11, 9:18 AM
ErnieG said...: Who can fail to be impressed with his vocal virtuosity. One day he can sound like a character from Amos 'n Andy, and the next he can sound like an NPR classical music announcer.; 9/25/11, 9:24 AM
ErnieG said...: @CEO_MMP:

Here. An article with the headline Obama Loses Cool At Black Caucus Dinner; ‘Stop Complaining’ And March.; 9/25/11, 9:32 AM
Shanna said...: His odd Southern accent/cadence vibe isn't as off-putting as Hillary's.

At least Hilary actually lived in the south for 15/20 years! As an Arkansan, she gets a pass on that from me.

Obama is like a bad actor picking up an accent for a movie. It bugs the hell out of me.; 9/25/11, 9:34 AM
edutcher said...: This comes as the WaPo says his approval among blacks is 58%. Nobody is hurting in this economy worse than them.

And then there's the Economist poll that has his general approval at 36% (take it with a grain of salt; it is, after all, an English poll).

He's floundering and it's his malaise speech.; 9/25/11, 9:38 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: Ernie:

Thanks. Yeah. Loses cool--which is certainly what it looks like, considering he slaps the podium and all.

"Loses Cool" is different than "Obama Loses It" though.; 9/25/11, 9:38 AM
ErnieG said...: @Shanna

Hillary is another example of a verbal chameleon. Although her accent is genuine, one minute she can sound like Minnie Pearl, and the next, like an NPR classical music announcer. (I keep using that example because it is the closest thing we have to the BBC plummy accent.); 9/25/11, 9:42 AM
kimsch said...: Mathmom: the commercial that came to me was the head-on one - the roll-on headache stuff?

In that same speech he says if asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew... uh, uh ... a janitor makes him a warrior for the working class...

Clip here.

wv: chipa; 9/25/11, 9:48 AM
Irene said...: @pm317, yes, that slap to the side of the lectern, and the accompanying glare, say more than the speech itself did.

Has Obama received any training about body language? Or are his emotions (hubrus, especially) so overpowering that he cannot control them?; 9/25/11, 9:49 AM
Insufficiently Sensitive said...: At least Hilary actually lived in the south for 15/20 years!

She lived in Berkeley. I lived there too, following some years in the South. Her Southern accent is easy to spot as a fake, as are some of her other less candid attributes.; 9/25/11, 10:02 AM
edutcher said...: Irene said...

@pm317, yes, that slap to the side of the lectern, and the accompanying glare, say more than the speech itself did.

Has Obama received any training about body language? Or are his emotions (hubrus, especially) so overpowering that he cannot control them?

The manchild has never been challenged before and he doesn't like it one bit.

PS Wasn't, "Press on", Charlie Beckwith's favorite line?; 9/25/11, 10:06 AM
Carol_Herman said...: If he wasn't campaigning for re-election he wouldn't go to this dinner! He'd have sent Biden.

The Black Caucus is exactly what's WRONG with Black representation! These turkeys are frauds who steal everything they can. And, they turn their backs on their communities' problems. Because they are so unsolvable!

Whites can't solve them. Yellows can't solve them. Reds didn't let them mingle. And, most newcomer immigrants to this country ... like the koreans who worked so hard ... Only discovered Blacks rioted and looted their neighborhood stores ... Bankrupting some of them.

Police didn't respond.

Those who still had businesses, left, hired snipers.

Not impressed with the Black Caucus members, and more than I am with Rodney King.

At least Obama spoke truth to them! CREDIT POINTS EARNED.; 9/25/11, 10:13 AM
MisterBuddwing said...: Whenever I hear "press on," I think of President Calvin Coolidge (aka "Silent Cal"):

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

WV: barcyc; 9/25/11, 10:13 AM
pm317 said...: OK, the thread is hijacked by people who want to beat Hillary.. yeah, one easy target especially here, I know.

Irene, about your comment on body language, yes it is hubris and an unwillingness to do what is appropriate for the office they hold -- it is the audacity that both Obamas could do anything they want and get away with it. The rules don't apply.

The most egregious body language expression I have seen from the two of them is at a welcoming ceremony in early in 2009 in Poland with their president and his wife.. All four of them are standing together and the military or some such march going on in front of them -- MO looks at BO with a condescending smile on her face as if to say 'look at these fools' and he is smiling back looking at her.; 9/25/11, 10:14 AM
Anonymous said...: Yes, he did look angry, and then he slapped the podium for emphasis when he left! It's like he's saying, hey, I'm transforming the country under cover of rules and regs. The socialist utopia is almost here. Isn't that enough for you people?

It's never enough, Barack.; 9/25/11, 10:21 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: Did Crack finally get tired of playing in the soup here, btw?; 9/25/11, 10:38 AM
David said...: Maybe he's angry that he keeps lapsing into his "black" southern accent when he addresses black groups. How patronizing can you get?; 9/25/11, 10:44 AM
SteveR said...: The "press-on" is an oft used encouragement derived from the 3rd Chapter of Philipians so its very preachy. I'm sure he heard that many times in Jeremiah Wright's church since he went all the time; 9/25/11, 10:49 AM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: And I don't see anger as much as fear in Barry's eyes. He is a brittle man, a narcissist who knows the game is over. That fear can only be dealt with with anger.

Good reason for not re-electing him. Can you imagine what a hate filled, revenge fest a second Obama term would be?; 9/25/11, 10:54 AM
Seeing Red said...: What is the goal? What is the promised land? What does it look like?

As a Breitbart commenter asked, he's asking for them to march against him?; 9/25/11, 11:02 AM
Seeing Red said...: Wait a minute, didn't Marxist Maxine say something recently about freeing us to let us chastise him?

Is this where this is coming from?; 9/25/11, 11:07 AM
MayBee said...: Rhetoric about "marching" and racial paranoia about "gigantic mountains of opposition" is exactly why blacks continue to be relatively poor in this country.

Exactly, MarkG. Detroit's politics were all about this for decades, and we see the results. A tragedy.; 9/25/11, 11:08 AM
Anonymous said...: I may be alone in this, but I thought the most repulsive thing he said was: "Shake it off!"; 9/25/11, 11:19 AM
BJM said...: New master is same as the old master on the govt plantation.; 9/25/11, 11:24 AM
Shanna said...: She lived in Berkeley. I lived there too, following some years in the South.

I don't know what that has to do with anything. She lived in Arkansas for half of my life. Her husband is southern. Sometimes accents rub off, and sometimes they sound especially weird for it. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that I don’t give to someone who lived in Hawaii and Chicago his whole life. Oh, also NY.; 9/25/11, 11:36 AM
Clyde said...: "Put on your marching shoes! I've got another four years of tee times and posh vacations to win!"

-- Barack Huckster Obama; 9/25/11, 11:57 AM
Clyde said...: @ Shanna

You left out Indonesia. It's pretty far south, I think.; 9/25/11, 11:58 AM
Sydney said...: I wonder what his audience thought of the performance. Were the inspired or insulted? He spent his entire life among white liberals. He has more in common culturally with a white man from Berkley than he does with an African-American from Chicago - or any other American city for that matter. Early in his career, he even had to resort to the tired old trick of joining a popular church in his community to boost his community organizing job credibility. Just like the salesmen in my community do.; 9/25/11, 11:59 AM
pm317 said...: @Paul He can't get the nation, which is comprised of many races, to back him up

-----------
This is a significant point. The old Black and White divide in America perhaps no longer holds. America has moved on and successfully at integrating multi-cultural and multi-lingual groups. As a new immigrant I used to say that as the first generation of children grow up here something magical happens and that they become American first (Note that it does not happen in Europe). That is the magic of the quintessential American Dream and also the social contract -- you do what is necessary and expected of you and the rewards will follow no matter who you are or where you came from. Future candidates of minority groups should take a lesson from this.; 9/25/11, 12:02 PM
Clyde said...: @ Browndog

re: "Shake it off!" I completely agree. It was like a baseball coach talking to an injured player. I expected him to add, "rub some dirt on it."

I'd guess that Coach Obama's not big on MRIs, that sort of thing.; 9/25/11, 12:07 PM
Jean said...: Me thinnks Bammy forgot he was talking to his own even though he is half white.; 9/25/11, 12:12 PM
David said...: The exit shows lack of confidence.

Usually Barry--or any other candidate before a supposedly friendly audience--would stand there to bask in the applause.

Barry felt danger--that he might not get the accolades.

He hates not getting the accolades, so he ran away.; 9/25/11, 12:21 PM
Jean said...: David, maybe he had lack of confidence in what he was saying and to whom? In other words, scared. He did indeed offend any decent Blacks there because in essence he said they were: 1. lazy sleepers (get your slippers off)2. whiners 3. grumblers 4. complainers. What did he have to say that was positive about Blacks or did he presuppose that because they voted for him that was all the positive they needed?; 9/25/11, 12:26 PM
Anonymous said...: America is (slowly, slowly, got my fingers crossed) coming to the realization that if you want a piece of the pie, you have to work for it.; 9/25/11, 12:52 PM
Anonymous said...: The American people are (slowly, slowly; got my fingers crossed) coming to the realization that if you want a piece of the pie, you have to work for it.; 9/25/11, 12:54 PM
Molly said...: What do you bet Limbaugh picks up this "bedroom slippers" taunt in some way, and is thereafter accused of dog whistle racism?; 9/25/11, 1:12 PM
Anonymous said...: His speech also shows how politically inept he is. Why didn't he meet with the CBC first thing after inauguration and tell them the game plan, throw them a few goodies?

He has thrown his party under the bus (see 11/10 shellacking) so the CBC figures, what the hell, put his feet to the fire.; 9/25/11, 1:16 PM
Chip S. said...: The only defensible reason for voting for Obama in '08 was the chance that he might be able to heal the racial divide. Instead, to save his scrawny neck, he's trying to widen it.

He's now fallen from "incompetent" to "despicable".; 9/25/11, 1:40 PM
Jean said...: A grifter is a grifter is a grifter.; 9/25/11, 2:09 PM
Big Mike said...: If Obama really wanted African-Americans to get their fair share of American prosperity then the first step forward is to reform inner city schools, which means taking on the teachers unions.

He isn't going to do it.

For anyone willing to take the time to look, Obama's failure as president of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to make any positive difference in the education of inner city children was a foreshadowing of Obama's failure as President of the United States to make any difference in the education of inner city children.

Perhaps the day will come when African-Americans will realize that George W. Bush and "No Child Left Behind" did more for Black children than "brother" Obama has done.; 9/25/11, 2:34 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Do they speak like that in Hawaii and Indonesia?; 9/25/11, 4:09 PM
Rick67 said...: Speaking of Limbaugh, I'm not a regular listener but I recall back in 2008 Limbaugh was quoted as saying that deep down Barack Obama is a profoundly angry man.; 9/25/11, 4:18 PM
Gene said...: I agree with the previous poster who said Breitbart was wrong. Obama wasn't mad. He was just trying to give the kind of Sunday morning type stem winder that the black community expects. He seemed to me to be enjoying himself. He learned a lot from all those weeks in the pews listening to Rev. Wright.; 9/25/11, 5:10 PM
michaele said...: Frankly, when Obama glared, yelled out "and God bless the United States of America" and then hit the podium with a thump, I could almost hear Rev. Wright chanting "and God damn America". It was eerie.; 9/25/11, 5:37 PM
BJM said...: Maybe the CBC has done the math, black owned businesses received a piddling 1.1% of Obama's Stimulus.; 9/25/11, 5:49 PM
traditionalguy said...: The one thing Obama's god will never do is bless either America or Israel.

Hitler and Obama have huge thing in common which is a dedicated a hatred hatred of Jew lovers.

I also wonder how Obama's friend Farrakhan doing since Obama took out his sugar daddy, Gadaffy. That must be terribly conflicting event for Prophet Farrakhan.; 9/25/11, 6:40 PM
Synova said...: I liked this comment from the link.

"March? Stop complaining and...march? Isn't he the main guy they should be talking to? You know, redressing grievances and whatnot? Wouldn't they be 'marching' to get his attention? I mean, he's the top dog, right? Who else are they going to march to? Not that any of that Alinsky community organizing rubbish ever really helps anyone or anything, but, he's telling them to basically protest...him?"; 9/25/11, 9:03 PM
sorepaw said...: Early in his career, he even had to resort to the tired old trick of joining a popular church in his community to boost his community organizing job credibility. Just like the salesmen in my community do.

Barack Obama also felt that he had to learn how to orate like an old-timey black preacher (how much contact had he ever had with any?). So he took the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a model.

Part of what makes the CBC speech so creepy is that he's trying to sound fired-up and inspiring, but he's channeling Jeremiah Wright in the process. Which makes the speech a near-perfect vehicle for his narcissistic rage.; 9/25/11, 10:35 PM
Mick said...: The Usurper (born British, of a British subject father) and his minions, like M. Moore, Bloomberg, etc are trying to imcite class warfare.; 9/26/11, 3:15 AM
Issob Morocco said...: Channeling Nixon....; 9/26/11, 5:43 AM
Known Unknown said...: And yet...I found myself half believing he was going to launch into The Jefferson's theme song...

Never. George Jefferson was a self-made man.; 9/26/11, 10:20 AM
prairie wind said...: Stop complaining? That's what the CBC should be saying to him.; 9/26/11, 11:06 AM
Peter said...: Synopsis:

"Ask not what Pres. Obama can do for black America,
Ask what black America can do to re-elect Pres. Obama!"; 9/26/11, 1:22 PM
CJ said...: I'm with Shanna. I'm from the South - I didn't like it when Oprah spoke like a Southern preacher in South Carolina and I sure as hell do not like it when Obama tries it.; 9/26/11, 5:18 PM
scottl said...: This is Obama at his condescending best/worst. The bedroom slippers reference is not about waking up... it's referring to the sterotype of a certain segment of the population who walk around in public in their bedroom slippers.
The word "shiftless" would capture the image of the target of his remarks...
again, the height of condescension and stereotype...; 9/26/11, 7:02 PM